


We Are Family

by TheFandomSuckup (orphan_account)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: A little angst, Family, Gen, It Hurt To Write Some Of This, It May Hurt, One Big Happy Family, Other, Some Pain In Here, irregular updates, steven universe feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-08-16 08:15:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 5,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8094739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/TheFandomSuckup
Summary: Just a bunch of small (and I mean small, don't expect a long chapter) scenarios. Lots of headcanon, probably very little actual canon, but who knows. Some things might not be completely accurate, but I try to keep everything consistent to the cartoon. No smut, maybe some shipping, it all depends. Enjoy!





	1. Peridot (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First Peridot scene.

"Peridot! Are you okay?" Steven came rushing over, hands flailing and eyes wide.

Peridot had just fallen off the barn roof, landing face first on the grass beneath it. She groaned and made her small hand into a fist, then slowly put her thumb up into the air. With her thumb still pointing towards the sky, she rolled over on her side, facing Steven, her eyes closed and her cheeks dark green, a nice crack weaving its way across her visor. She groaned again, and mumbled, "Did you get it?"

Steven perked up and laughed, holding up a tape recorder. "Yep! Right here!" He put the camera lens right next to her face. "Say hi, Peridot!"

Once again she groaned, flipping herself onto her stomach and shoving her face back into the grass.

 

~*~

 

A little while later, Steven and Peridot were watching the tape over again for what seemed like the fiftieth time, taking notes and talking quite seriously about the things they needed to change in order for the trick to go smoother.

Peridot was in the middle of explaining how the wind would have been a factor in the failure, when Garnet opened the barn door and stepped inside. She cupped her hands around her mouth and called up, "Steven! It's time for you to eat!" 

Steven looked over the edge of the loft and replied, "Oh, okay! I'll be down in a second!" He turned back to Peridot, who was now staring back at the screen and pouting. "You wanna come with us?" He nudged her cheerfully. "We're getting pizza!"

Peridot just wrapped her arms around her knees and stuck her chin directly on the top. "No thank you, Steven."

He watched her for another moment before softly asking, "Are you sure?"

Peridot just nodded and watched her on-screen self tumble from the roof.

Garnet called again, so Steven hugged the small gem beside him and climbed down from the loft. "I'll be back in a little while Peridot!" And with that, he was gone. 

Peridot waited for a second or two before looking over the edge to the door. Neither the red fusion nor the half gem were there. So with a sigh, Peridot clambered down from her perch and darted after them, calling out, "Wait for me, Steven!"


	2. Jasper (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First Jasper scene.

Never in her entire gem life did Jasper think she'd be a babysitter. For the Crystal Gems, no less! Not that she minded it, because she got to "hang out" with Ro - _Steven,_ but she was made for fighting, not making sandwiches for a chubby-cheeked half-human! However, now that she had extra time with him, and the Crystal Gems weren't around to interrupt her every time she tried speaking, Jasper could tell Steven all of her stories about Homeworld. She often spoke about the gems there, and the social classes, and the way of life for the higher class. She would (reluctantly) let the boy play with her hair as she told him about how the houses were made and how gems would interact with each other differently in different places or at different times of the day. Sometimes she even told him about her personal experiences.

Once, Steven asked her a question that left her feeling raw. 

"Jasper..."

She didn't look away from the video game that Steven had set her up with previously. "Yeah?"

"Can you tell me about Pink Diamond?"

Jasper froze. She had never had him ask about Pink Diamond. She assumed he already knew everything about her from the Crystal Gems. But now, knowing that he was asking her for information on his own Diamond - his _mother's_ Diamond - Jasper discovered that, for the first time since she had been born, she was lacking oxygen. 

As she tried to figure out how to breath, Steven shrank away from her. "I-I'm sorry, Jasper! I didn't mean to make you mad!" He stood up. "H-how about I go get some pizza? I'll be back in a little bit, promise!" He left before she could stop him. 

On the TV screen, her character lost a life and the game reset, but she wasn't paying attention. Jasper had closed her eyes in an attempt to control herself. Her, a jasper of all things, getting emotional over one question? 

In the back of her mind, she knew she would tell Steven about her commander, but right now, she had to fight herself to even think about Pink Diamond.


	3. Lapis Lazuli (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First Lapis scene.

Lapis couldn't stand to see it. She couldn't stand to see anything that even vaguely resembled the gem that had hurt her. But Steven had left it in the barn, and Peridot wasn't around to help her out, so the water gem figured she'd have to just do it herself. She'd go over to the drawing of Jasper, pick it up, and throw it away. Or drown it. She had the strong urge to toss it in some salt water and let it disintegrate. She just wanted it gone. 

Ever since Jasper had had her "redemption arch" and joined the Crystal Gems, Lapis had refused to leave the barn. She hadn't come out in fear of seeing Jasper somewhere on the beach, or even just hanging around in the city or something. She hadn't planned on stumbling across her inside of the barn. 

She remembered that Steven had been coloring with Peridot yesterday. He wouldn't show his drawing to anyone, not even when Lapis promised to fly him over the city in exchange for a peek at his masterpiece. He told her that it was going to be a surprise. 

Well, what a surprise.

Coming out of her reverie, Lapis noticed that she had been vacantly staring at the picture for about an hour now. The sun was higher up in the sky and it was starting to heat up a little bit. And yet she couldn't bring herself to go over and pick up the page. It made her nauseous just thinking about it. 

'This is so dumb, Lapis! It's just a drawing! It doesn't even look like her, not really!' She tried to convince herself that it was okay, that she had no reason to be afraid, but that didn't stop the rapidly rising panic in her throat. 

And then suddenly she couldn't take it anymore. Her wings popped out, and she soared up into the rafters, wrapping her arms around her knees and trying her hardest not to fall apart.

She just had to wait for Peridot to come home...


	4. Greg (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First Greg scene.

Sometimes, when he's fast asleep, Greg will feel like he's drowning. 

He has this dream where Rose is still with him, outside of her gem, and Steven's there too, and they're all one big happy family. When he has that dream, he feels like he's in Heaven. He's never felt so happy.

But these days, a recurring dream haunts him more and more, and he can't ever seem to find his way out of it. 

In this one, there are no such things as gems on the Earth. There never was Pearl or Garnet or Amethyst, because they weren't real. It was just Rose, a beautiful rebel who had been the only one to show up at his Beach City concert, and their sweet baby boy Steven, who had been born just two years after Rose and Greg met. 

They lived as a normal beach-front family, with no life-or-death situations to mess up their lives, and they were all one big happy family.

Until a war broke out. 

The middle of the nightmare was a little blurry, but in the end, Greg was standing over the bodies of his beloved wife and child.

He would then wake up in a cold sweat and let his silent tears fall. 

Sometimes he wished it'd been him, instead of Rose, to leave.


	5. Garnet (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First Garnet scene.

Garnet liked the silence she discovered when she walked along the beach at night. She liked the sound of the waves as they rushed onto the sand and then hurried back out into the open ocean. She liked the sound of the small animals that scurried back and forth on the beach, their silent communications with each other. And she especially liked the peace and calm that she felt when she stared up at the moon.

She felt like the moon could be her friend, if only they could speak to each other. But she had no way to reach the bright orb, so she would settle for laying back on the sand and count the stars around it. 

Inside of her consciousness, she could feel Ruby and Sapphire smile with contentment. 

Sometimes Garnet felt like she would never leave that spot.

And sometimes she thought she really wouldn't. 

She wanted to feel this peace all the time, every day, until she ceased to exist.

But then she would remember Steven, and Pearl, and Amethyst, and Ruby and Sapphire and everything they've fought for--everything _she's_ fought for--and smile up at the moon. 

It seemed to smile back at her.


	6. Amethyst (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First Amethyst scene.

Amethyst liked making flower crowns. 

Of course, she was sure no one except Steven knew this. She made him swear on his gem to never tell.

Whenever she was all alone, or had some free time that she wanted to spend by herself, she would venture off to the empty field on the other side of Beach City, where all kinds of wild flowers grew in between long strands of dried grass. She had made herself a little spot right in the middle of the field where she (and sometimes Steven) could sit and weave the flowers together, hidden away from the rest of the world. 

Her favorite kinds of crowns to make were the daisy chains. Amethyst would string them together, then tie the ends together so that it would make a beautiful white-petaled halo. She would then march about town with her daisy headpiece, feeling for all the world like a... What was it called? A "princess?" Yeah, that.

A few times she'd almost gotten caught by Pearl or Garnet, both of whom had come looking for her on multiple occasions. She'd always hidden herself right on time, but always had to leave her crown behind. 

Hiding her "girly side," as Steven called it, was exhausting.


	7. Pearl (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First Pearl scene.

Even though she didn't eat, Pearl enjoyed the process of making food. 

It usually depended on her mood what she was going to make. 

Sometimes, when she was really happy or excited, she'd make a full five-course meal. Where she got the money for any of the ingredients was beyond Steven.

Her favorite thing to make was cakes. She liked how she had to get everything precise, or else it would taste bad and/or fall apart. The calming repetition of cracking the eggs, pouring the flour, mixing the ingredients, then adding a tiny hint of chocolate was enough to always put her in a good mood.

And it didn't hurt that Steven was always happy to eat Pearl's food.

Even if Amethyst always tried to make a mess of things during the preparation.


	8. Peridot (2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second Peridot scene.

It was a peaceful spring day. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming, and Steven was sitting in the lush green grass near the barn with some shades on, getting in a bit of early tanning.

All was calm, quiet, and perfect. 

And then from somewhere to the right, a small yelp was heard from a particularly green space gem. And then another. And finally, an all-out shriek. 

Immediately, Steven got to his feet and turned towards the direction of the sounds, his sunglasses falling off in the process. Slightly blinded from the bright sunlight, he called, "Peridot!" Another yelp was heard to his left this time, as if she had moved. Just as the half-gem was about to yell for her again, Peridot cried out, "STEVEN!! HELP ME!!" He didn't need to be told twice. 

He was running towards her voice before she could finish her plea. He thought he heard her from behind the barn, so he dashed around the side of it to find that Peridot was being... Attacked! 

By butterflies. 

She screeched again, her small arms flailing to try and get them away from her. "STEVEN THESE THINGS ARE TRYING TO GET TO MY EYES GET THEM AWAY THEY WANT TO EAT ME--" 

Steven started laughing, which only made her angrier and freak out even more. "STEVEN DO YOU WANT ME TO DIE??? WHAT ARE YOU DOING???" 

Still laughing, he went up to her and reached out his hand. About a dozen or so of the tiny winged creatures alighted themselves onto his arm. "Peridot, calm down. They're just butterflies! They're harmless." 

Peridot immediately froze and blinked at the boy. "Really?" While she had frozen herself, the remaining butterflies perched upon her head and arms. One landed on her visor. "Why were they attacking me then? Huh? If they're so harmless, then why were they being so vicious?" She shook herself to dislodge the bugs, then ran off again, not giving Steven time to explain. "You'll never catch me alive!" The entire butterfly group followed her silently. 

Steven just stared after her. "Oh boy..." He sighed.


	9. Jasper (2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second Jasper scene.

Jasper couldn't remember the last time she had been happy. Hell, she couldn't even remember the last time she smiled. 

Steven just couldn't have that. 

He tried everything in his Book of Steven to get her to crack a grin, but the most reaction he'd ever gotten was a scoff and an eye roll.

So now here he was, pacing the floor in front of the Crystal Gems while Jasper was out walking the town, and stressing over the fact that he had tried every tactic he knew and failed. "Okay, so we've been to Funland, I've taken her to the arcade and then paid for the games she destroyed, we've been to Empire City... She didn't like that place too much..." He shivered, remembering the damages they had left behind. 

And then Garnet spoke up. "We haven't thrown her a birthday party yet."

And just like that, Steven's excitement was flipped on. "Then... That's what we'll do!"

\--*--

Two or three hours later, Steven went to look for Jasper, claiming that he just _had ___to show her something. She sighed in annoyance and let him pull her by her hand up the beach to his house. After they got up on the porch, Steven turned back to her and told her to close her eyes. She scowled. "I'm not going to cover my eyes, Rosebud." She crossed her arms and stared him down. Steven frowned.

"Please?" 

And with just that one word, she caved. She huffed, and slowly covered her eyes with one hand. "This better be good, Rosebud." 

He smiled and took her by her free hand. "It is, trust me!" He led her into the house, admiring his and the gems' handiwork. They had transformed the place into a party hall, complete with punch, cake (for Amethyst), and a shiny ribbon that stretched across the ceiling, saying, 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASPER'. There was even confetti littering the floor and streamers draped over everything. 

Satisfied with the look of it all, he tugged on Jasper's hand, saying, "Okay. You can look now." 

As soon as she uncovered her eyes, Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, Peridot, and even Lapis jumped out from behind the couch, and yelled, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASPER!!" Music started playing, courtesy of Pearl, and everyone surrounded the suddenly shocked gem. 

And for the first time in forever, she smiled. 


	10. Lapis Lazuli (2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second Lapis scene.

It was only in the darkness that Lapis felt like she could be her true self. 

In the rafters in the barn, or on the beach in the middle of the night. Sometimes in the barely used and kind of creepy silo. Those were the only places she felt truly safe, under the guise of total black. 

Last night, Lapis couldn't "sleep," so she decided to fly around for a while, just to see if that would ease her restlessness. 

She spread her watery wings and soared into the star-lit sky, face expressionless, but at peace. Her first stop was Beach City, not too far away from the barn. She glided on the wind, over the darkened beach-front town, and then changed her direction and headed to Steven's place. 

She landed gently on the porch, glancing around to see if anyone had seen her. She felt like she was safe here, so she relaxed. 

Lapis glanced into one of the windows, trying to see if she could catch a glimpse of the half-gem inside. She figured he would be asleep at this time of night, but it didn't stop her from trying to see if he was awake. 

Finally, she turned away and went to stand on the beach instead, squishing the sand between her toes and staring at the dark ocean. She hated this body of water. It had been her tomb for almost a year, and she never wanted to be in it again. But Steven had told her that she had to fight her fears, face them head-on, to get over them.She wanted to do that, for Steven, but she just couldn't find it in herself to do it tonight.

Not when she finally felt so comfortable.

So she turned away from the gentle waves and brought her wings out again, sighing as she felt a little of her anxiety leave her. Maybe she'd go back to the barn to try out this "sleep" thing again.


	11. Greg (2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second Greg scene.

He couldn't help but be worried about Steven. Even if Greg knew what his son was doing, he couldn't help but be terrified of what could happen to the small boy out on the field. And sometimes Steven just didn't get that.

Right now, Greg was trying to find just the right note for the song he was working on, but each one he made sounded sour. He was just about to give up when Steven came running in, all flushed and giggly. "Hey Dad! How's the song going?"

Greg smiled softly and replied, "Hey, Steven. I think it's going pretty well, but I can't seem to get this one note right..." He twanged around on his guitar for a minute or two before Steven piped up. 

"Have you tried the B minor?" Greg looked a bit surprised at the suggestion, but went ahead and picked out the note. He listened to it, then smiled down at the boy.

"Hey, that's not too bad, shnooball!" His son beamed and hopped up into the van with his father.

While they sat there, Greg absentmindedly strumming a little tune and Steven humming along, the older man thought about the way he could bring up his concerns to the boy without upsetting him. 

Before he could speak, though, Steven beat him to it. "Hey, Dad?"

Greg stopped playing. "What's wrong?"

The boy pursed his lips and he got a slightly downtrodden expression.

"The Crystal Gems are thinking about making me take a break from the missions."

Greg's eyes widened as he processed this. "Oh... Well, how do you feel about this?" He tried not to sound too happy about this turn of events.

Steven sighed. "Well... I don't really want to... But I suppose, if they say I have to, then I will." He swung his feet a little, twisting his mouth to the side to show his disappointment.

"Well..." The older man tried to cheer his son up, smiling gently. "How about we go get some pizza? We can go to the arcade afterwards, if you want..."

Steven looked up at his dad, a small smile spreading on his young face. "Sure, Dad. Let's go."


	12. Garnet (2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second Garnet scene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's light shipping in here. You might not like the ship(s), but I felt they'd be the most compatible in this chapter. Chill.

Being a fusion entirely made of love, Garnet hadn't ever felt like she needed anything more than the Crystal Gems and herself. But recently, she'd been feeling a bit... Sad? Or maybe just lonely...

She began to notice this around the time Amethyst and Peridot had announced they were "girlfriends," by human standards. Living with an appreciation-deprived couple in the same house kinda wears one down eventually.

After they announced it, Garnet had been seeing couples that she'd never noticed before. The two teenagers who worked at the donut shop, Lars and Sadie, seemed to be in a relationship, even if Garnet knew they weren't. At one point she saw the fisherman and Amethyst's human friend holding hands and strolling down the boardwalk with a small, almost albino little boy. She noticed younger couples here and there on the public beach, and saw older couples, most likely married, dotting the city streets. 

She knew these feelings of loneliness couldn't come from either Sapphire or Ruby, because they were plenty happy together without anyone else around, so Garnet concluded that these feelings were hers and hers alone. 

Never before in her entire fusion existence had Garnet ever felt so confused.


	13. Amethyst (2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second Amethyst scene.   
> WARNING: Pain up ahead.

At times like this, Amethyst felt cursed. 

A battle had broken out on the beachfront between corrupted gems and the Crystal Gems. They all came out of the ocean, as if they had been collecting more gems and biding their time. Now that she thought about it, Amethyst was sure that's what they had been doing. Just waiting for the right time to strike. 

The Crystal Gems had fought as hard as they could, but as more corrupted ones flooded out of the ocean, they were outnumbered and then cornered. 

Steven had almost been trampled, and was now in the hospital two towns over. Beach City had been destroyed by the corrupted gems.

Pearl had been poofed and lost in the beach sand, so all Amethyst could do was wait for her to reform. 

Garnet had also been poofed, so that Sapphire and Ruby's gems were tossed across the beach. Sapphire fell into the water and sank out of sight, but Ruby... 

Ruby had been shattered.

And there was nothing Amethyst could've done to stop it. 

Now, she was the only Crystal Gem left at the temple. 

And never before in her entire existence had she felt so alone and afraid.


	14. Pearl (2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second Pearl scene.

Ah, yes, Pearl loved tidiness. She kept everything so neat and organized to the point of godliness that Amethyst would tease her for it, and Garnet would sit back and shake her head, smiling at Pearl's frantic need to keep everything clean. But there was one place that Pearl couldn't reach to fix the messes left behind by others. 

Her mind. 

She had so many things going on in her head that it was ridiculous, and anyone else would have gone crazy with the stress that it caused. But she was a Crystal Gem, and a warrior in the name of Rose Quartz. She didn't have time to sort through everything she was dealing with. So she just pushed it to the back of her consciousness, letting her animosity and sadness build up until she just _had_ to vent. 

These times were the worst, because if she started getting all her feelings out, she wouldn't be able to stop until she was completely empty. And it took a while for her to become completely empty.

She remembered one time where she nearly went off on Steven and had to walk away before she started yelling. It hadn't been a good day for anyone. 

Pearl didn't feel like she could go to Garnet or Amethyst with her problems, considering they had their own to deal with.

So she learned to ignore them. She would light a candle or two and sit quietly on the couch, giving herself a silent pep talk and controlling herself.

Pearl got so good at concealing her distraught and despair that, eventually, no one could even tell she had problems at all. 

And that's just the way she liked it--clean, no messy questions or answers, and leaving nothing to clean up or fix later on.


	15. Advice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A request from SerLeosOfHighheart. Hope you like it!

Today was a good day for the Crystal Gems. They hadn't had any pressing things to attend to, and no attacks had happened at all. Days like these were rare, so everybody made the most out of them while they could. And what better way than to have a beach party? Of course, it was Steven's idea, and everybody went with it, simply because... Well, why not?

Everything was set to happen later that night, so Steven was busy making hand-made flyers (bless his soul) that were to be distributed in approximately 30 minutes. Amethyst and Garnet were on food, Peridot was assigned to setting up tables while Lapis set up the chairs, and Pearl was on decorations-obviously. 

Normally Pearl loved to decorate things, make them perfect and shiny, and overall pleasing to the eye. But today... She was having some issues. She couldn't decide what color to use, and where. 

Every time she would go to someone for help, they would tell her that they were busy, or say, "Why not both?" But Pearl didn't care too much for those responses, and finally got frustrated enough to toss the decor down on the sand and stomp off. 

The only one who had time to notice was Greg, who was set to play a few songs at the party. He had been tuning up his guitar when he saw Pearl stalk past him, and before she could get very far, he called out, "Pearl? What's wrong?"

She stopped, and sighed. "Greg... Are you... Are you busy right now?" She turned to him with hopeful eyes, her mouth drawn into a small frown. 

Greg looked down at his guitar and said, "Not really. Why, what's eating you?" He set it down and stood up. 

Pearl's eyes grew a little wider, and she averted her gaze to the left. "Uh, could I... Ask for your advice?" 

Greg pretended to think for a second. "Well, I dunno... I have given some bad advice before..." As Pearl's face started to fall again, he backtracked and said, "Whoa, whoa, I was just messin' with you. What do you need advice for?" He stood a little straighter and put on an overly serious expression.

In spite of herself, Pearl smiled. "Well, I've been having a few... Troubles... With the decorations..." She and Greg walked towards the discarded decor on the ground, and he gave her the best thing he could come up with.

"Why not do half and half? We could do one of those games later on where it's two teams against each other. You can use both, on different sides!"

Pearl looked at the set up, and smiled thoughtfully. 

She could definitely see it now.


	16. A Special Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A pre-Christmas inspired chapter! (Set before Three Gems and a Baby)

The seasons had finally changed from autumn to winter in a slow decline of degrees, and Steven was crossing his fingers for a snowfall this year. It hadn't snowed in more than 13 years, and he hadn't ever seen the white flakes except on TV. He was hoping against hope that this year it might be cold enough for it.

He and his father were sitting out on the beach, watching storm clouds roll in from the ocean. Greg was strumming a mindless tune on his guitar, not really keeping to any particular melody, while Steven hummed along with him. He was thinking.

Suddenly, Greg turned to his son and said, "Hey, Steven, y'know Christmas isn't really that far away, plus the weather's getting a little chilly. You wanna head out with me tomorrow to see if we can pick out a Christmas tree?"

Steven's eyes lit up and Greg could almost swear he saw stars appear in his pupils. "Yes! Can we bring the Gems, too, and Connie?"

The retired rock star chuckled and turned back to the ocean. "Sure, if they want to. Why not? The more, the merrier!" He and his son laughed for a moment before standing up and heading their separate ways, saying goodnight to each other as a cold rain started to fall.

...

The next morning, Steven was rudely awoken by Amethyst. The purple Gem was ridiculously excited about something, but wouldn't tell him why. Finally, she managed to get him down the stairs and to the door, shoving him outside. He gasped deeply, and put his hands to his face. 

"It's snowing!"

And it was. Or, at least, it was trying to. Tiny flakes drifted down from the overcast sky, but it wasn't big precipitation, seeing as how it didn't even stick to the ground. Even so, Steven got dressed accordingly and joined Amethyst outside, grinning and laughing as the cold air made his cheeks rosy.

An hour or so later, when Steven had finally gone back inside to have some hot cocoa, Greg pulled up with Connie in tow, waving his arms and calling for Steven. The Gems declined the invitation to go with them, so it ended up just Connie, Steven, and Greg going on their expedition to find the perfect Christmas tree. 

The two friends had a fantastic time playing hide and seek in the tree lot before they actually had to get serious about the picking. Eventually they settled on a four foot Noble fir, relishing how pretty it was all around. 

As they were loading the tree up onto the roof of the van, the sky started to send down the cold, white flakes of ice again, but this time it was a little heavier. It started to stick to the ground, and Greg had to hurry to the beach house before the road froze over.

Finally, the tree was sitting beautifully in the living room with little to no damage done, and a fire was started for warmth. The small group of friend sat around the fire for a good two hours, talking about this and that, trading stories, laughing together.

Steven glanced out the window at the easing snow and smiled. He liked this time of year.


	17. Oh, the Humanity...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angst. Pain. So many bad emotions up ahead. Character death, triggering(?) subjects. No happiness found in this chapter.
> 
> You've been warned.

He wished he would stop hurting. The pain was doing things to his head, making him feel and hear things that weren't really there. He knew they weren't, because he couldn't see them.

But oh, how he wished they were.

Whenever he closed his eyes, Steven could see the Gems getting shattered, over and over and over and over and he couldn't stop from reliving what he'd witnessed.

Pearl had been crushed beneath the feet of the Homeworld army.

Amethyst had put up a hard fight, but eventually she was overpowered and smashed with the tip of a sword.

Garnet had been forcibly unfused, and Sapphire was subjected to watching Ruby get Shattered before Sapphire herself was given the same treatment.

Lapis and Peridot were taken hostage, but also, eventually, Shattered.

And Steven didn't do anything but watch.

As soon as Pearl had disappeared, Garnet had ordered Steven to run, and reluctantly, he did.

But he watched.

He watched it all.

The shock of everything had made his reflexes hazy, so he hadn't noticed the Homeworld gem come up behind him. He hadn't been fast enough to dodge the blow that was headed for him, but he did manage to lift his arm to block it, which resulted in a clean cut straight to the bone. The gem hadn't stopped there, however. She swung the blade again, this time straight towards his stomach, and it sank home before Steven could register what was happening.

The gem disappeared then, leaving him to die.

He was still laying in the dirt, blood pouring from his wounds nearly an hour after the army had disappeared, and by now he knew that he was dying. He could feel it, within himself.

Stuck inside of a hazy reality, the boy could almost swear that he heard Garnet calling to Pearl, and Pearl responding jovially. He could vaguely see a purple figure beside him and thought that it might be Amethyst. The sound of watery flapping came to him, and he figured that Lapis and Peridot were touring the city again.

And then he couldn't hold his eyes open anymore. 

The bleeding eventually stopped, and his body grew cold as dawn approached, lighting up the macabre scene of a fallen rebellion and the fragmented shards of humanity's lost hope.


End file.
